Dell Dimension 3000 not allowing 1920x1080 resolution with new Dell 24" monitor

Keep in mind that all I want is the higher resolution basically.  I'm not a gamer nor do I need the greatest graphics available.  All I really want my pc to do is have the capability to use the 1920x1080 resolution my monitor offers.  I play poker and stuff like that and just want to be able to have more tables open without much overlap and such.  So I'd be happy with something decent and under $100 if possible.

Ok, I went and purchased the video card from Staples.  It was a Diamond Stealth Radeon 9250.  I unplugged everything, installed the card and hooked up the DVI cable.  I plugged the power cord back in and turned on my PC and BOOM!  The account screen that comes up when you turn on XP was HUGE and I had to scroll down to pick my account.  Everything booted up like normal and I went into properties and settings and I had a bunch more resolution options and it immediately went to 1920x1080 like I was hoping for.  I didn't even have to install the driver that came with the card nor did I have to disable the old graphics via bios.  *censored*, I even still had the VGA cable hooked up too so I eventually just unplugged it. 

Here's my issue now.  My desktop background is full screen and centered and I didn't have to change it.  However, I have no task bar at the bottom, thus no start menu, clock, etc.  I noticed that when I minimize something it goes off to the right and towards the bottom.  When I drag my mouse over there I can tell that it goes past the edge and doesn't reappear until after I scroll back left what would be a couple inches or so.  I have changed to multiple resolutions and the problem persists.  What's the fix here guys.  I messed with the monitor settings too and I can't shrink it horizontally or vertically as they aren't choosable now and I made sure the input source was changed from analog to digital dvi.  Thanks for any help.

No more problems, I'm up and running.  I don't think it mattered but I reinstalled the monitor drivers and installed the card drivers but nothing changed.  So thanks to google and after one search I was able to read another forum which gave the solution of right click/properties/settings/right click and disable the other monitor choices which then brought my cursor back and my task bar.  All is well right now.  It was pretty easy with some help even though that was the first time I've ever did any hardware work.  Thanks for all the help and may karma be on your side.  Cheers! 

[Moderator]

Sorry nobody was around to help you with the installation, but as you said - it's pretty simple. Anyway, glad you're up and running. As you found out, you MUST install the correct driver for the card in order to have full functionality and control.

disable the other monitor choices

I asked before if it was using Duel Screen:

If still issues, make sure you do not have duel monitor setup?

this would of been in the list. I should of probably gone into more detail about it.

Glad you have it working now!

Thanks Azzaboi.  I'm totally new to hardware stuff and you, Allan, and my buddy all got me through it quite easily.  I'm a pretty fast learner once I learn all the lingo and see the stuff once.  It's just that I had certain settings in the original display settings for the resolution, then when I put the monitor on it changed, then when I put the video card in it changed again and kept getting bigger with more options and I was totally clueless.  If I wanted to go dual monitor someday I'm assuming that would be pretty easy.  Only issue now is I have the VGA port in the PC and now another VGA and DVI with this new card so can you run analog and digital monitors both and just put the option to dual monitors or is there some splitter/adapter you can get to do it?  Or can you only do DVI or VGA?  No rush, most likely won't do anything like that for a long time but if it's something I think I can do I might just get crazy lol.  I still haven't changed the bios settings yet because everything seems totally fine.  Would I have issues if I don't?  Thanks dude. 

Only one cable per monitor - never connect VGA as well as DVI to the same monitor, it will work but heat up!

Recommend using DVI - High Definition cable for a HD Monitor to get higher quality.

So graphic cards have two or more connectors, either to allow VGA or DVI, or allowing for duel (or more) monitors for example two DVI connectors. In which case you can set monitors side-by-side, etc, and toggle between them. You might also have an s-video connection for HDTV.

Under the settings you can toggle around them and sometimes have the option to set a location on each so the desktop flows across them even if different sized monitors.